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By ALAN HOSKINS, Kansan Contributor

Kansas City Kansas Community College got the 2009-10 basketball season off to a winning start with a sweep of Saint Mary JV Tuesday but the road gets a whole lot tougher in a hurry in the Sixth Annual Keith Lindsey Classic here this weekend.

The Lady Blue Devils take on Cottey College Friday at 6 p.m. and then face an early season showdown with arch-rival Penn Valley Saturday at 4 p.m. while the KCKCC men go up against Haskell JV Friday at 8 p.m. before a big early season test against North Arkansas Saturday at 2 p.m.

Four other games are also on tap. Johnson County and Penn Valley women square off in the tournament opener Friday at 2 p.m. with Penn Valley and North Arkansas colliding at 4 p.m. On Saturday, Johnson County will play Cottey at noon with Penn Valley meeting Saint Mary JV in the tourney final at 6 p.m.

KCKCC women’s coach Valerie Stambersky unveiled a promising corps of freshmen in the Lady Blue Devils’ 94-46 win over Saint Mary as a trio of frosh forwards combined for 40 points and 33 rebounds.

Former Piper standout Michelle Selbe had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Melanie Phipps of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 13 points and 11 rebounds and Laci Schreiber of Shawnee Heights 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Guard Jerae David of Burlington, Colo., also had 15 points, soph Shannon Carlin of Tonganoxie 12 points and 5 rebounds, frosh Alyssa Rushton of Rochester, Minn. 9 points and 9 rebounds and veteran Sarah Craft of Lawrence Free State 8 points and 5 rebounds.

“We had a lot of players do a lot of good things but there’s a lot we need to work on,” said Stambersky, whose team shot 48.6 percent from the field and 86.7 percent from the foul line and grabbed twice as many rebounds (62-31) but committed 19 turnovers.

Blue Devil men’s coach Jon Oler was not as happy with a 79-56 win in the nightcap. “Not with 25 turnovers,” said Oler, whose Blue Devils put up only 55 shots to 59 for Saint Mary although hitting 45.5 percent while holding the Spires to 30.5 percent.

Freshman Dennis Tinnon of Green Bay, Wis., led the way with 18 points and veteran Jonathan Wright of St. Joseph’s LeBlond was perfect from the field in a 12-point effort. Veterans Melvin Gatson and Scott Fruehling added 9 points each.

Tinnon also had 11 rebounds as KCKCC controlled the boards 54-30 with soph Andre Metoyer and frosh Hal Payne of Bishop Miege adding eight each.